CSR INITIATIVES
Each day, through innovative partnerships, concrete initiatives and our sharing of best practices — both inside our malls and throughout their local ecosystems — we strive to live up to our commitments to sustainability and innovation. With one simple promise: to take action in the community.
"Swap to New" brings new life to discarded clothes and toys
As Scandinavia's leading shopping center company with well-attended shopping centers in attractive locations aSteen & Strøm is committed to making its shopping centers enjoyable meeting places for locals where everyone is welcome. This does not necessarily mean that you as a visitor shop every time. With 'Swap to New', our visitors have been given the opportunity to hand in their old, discarded clothes and now also toys, to give them longer life with someone else.
Through the work of our partners - Myrorna, Kirkens Korshær, Røde Kors and Erikshjälpen - someone else can benefit from the discarded clothes. Each bag of clothes handed in corresponds to a discount voucher for the next purchase, valid in the stores that have chosen to support the activity. In total, close to 2,900 clothing bags have been handed in during 2023 at Emporia in Malmö, Kupolen in Borlänge, Field’s in Copenhagen, and Bruuns Galleri in Aarhus.
Swap Toys During October and November, Swap to New was organized at Kupolen in Borlänge in collaboration with Erikshjälpen. Kupolen developed the idea further and has also organized a Swap to New for toys. Over 220 children came for four hours and swapped toys with each other.
The Swap to New for toys at Kupolen was very much appreciated. “Children quickly get tired of their toys, and through Swap to New, they are given a new and longer life and, not least, can be enjoyed by more children. It feels good. Swap to New regarding discarded clothes has also been appreciated. Both activities will certainly be recurring elements at Kupolen”, says Sofie Källgren, Center Manager. Swap to New makes it possible to raise awareness of textile recycling among the visitors to our shopping centers and we may contribute to a sustainable lifestyle, which is one of the objectives of Steen & Strøm’s overall Act4Good work and ESG strategy to encourage, enable and contribute to our customers and visitors having a sustainable approach and lifestyle.
By 2025, all EU countries must ensure that clothing and textile waste is sorted and collected. The potential to increase the recycling of textiles is huge. A study shows that there is capacity in Europe to recycle 1.3 million tons of textiles by 2025. The corresponding figure for sorting textiles is 560,000 tons*.
*Source: Sustainable Clothing Future - Mapping textile players in sorting and recycling of textiles in Europe